Oh joy, another pissing match between corporate titans — and as usual, the consumer loses.

NBC Universal and iTunes (Apple) apparently have been duking it out over the pricing of NBC programming on the popular download site and the fight came to a head today when iTunes announced that it will not carry NBC content during the new TV season starting in late September.

That means we won’t be able to get our fix of “The Office,” along with other shows, on iTunes. And that, my friends, is a major bummer. (I’ve got every “Office” episode on my video iPod).

It seems that NBC Universal and iTunes were squabbling over a new contract as greedy NBC reportedly wanted to boost the cost of downloadable episodes to $4.99 a pop. The fee for all TV content — across the board — on iTunes is currently $1.99 an episode. Apple said “no way” and the standoff was on.

Among the other NBC content that will go missing: “Heroes,” “30 Rock,” “Scrubs” and “Friday Night Lights.”

I guess there’s always the possibility that cooler heads will prevail. (Surely the new NBC bosses must realize iTunes played a big role in boosting the profile of “The Office”). But for now, the Freak is officially ticked.

“Pushing Daisies” leads a tight race in our poll so far. (ABC photo).

Hey gang, I’ve set up a poll on the Times website asking you to tell me what new network show you most want to see this season. Take just a second to log your pick by clicking here.

This will allow us to gauge what shows are building the most buzz and also help me determine what to riff about in the blog.

Oh, and if your show isn’t among the 10 choices there, definitely let me hear about it.

Thanks for your participation.

The Boss man is set to rock the “Today” show.

Newcomers to this blog will soon learn that I’ll find any way to work Bruce Springsteen into a post. I’m a fanatic. Not the kind of fanatic who writes the Boss gushy love letters and sits outside his house in the dead of night and names my pets Rosalita and the Magic Rat. But the kind of fanatic who buys all the CDs and attends concerts and keeps an eye peeled for that rare TV appearance.

Regarding the latter, I’m pleased to report that Springsteen and his E Street band are scheduled to perform live in New York’s Rockefeller Plaza as part of the “Today” show on Sept. 28. It’s the start of the promotional march-up to the release of their new album, “Magic,” on Oct. 2 and the launching of a world tour, which comes to Oakland on Oct. 26.

It will be the second time Bruce and the band played NBC’s morning show, but the first time they’ve done their outdoor concert series on site. A July 2002 appearance originated from Asbury Park, N.J.

Upon viewing CBS’s slickly edited and emotionally powerful preview clip of “Kid Nation” earlier this summer, I have to admit that my immediate reaction was one of a TV critic, not a parent.

Forty wide-eyed tykes — ranging in age from 8 to 15 — plopped into a New Mexico ghost town to build their own society, free of pesky adults? Oh how cool. I’d watch. Why didn’t anyone think of this before?

But right about now the bigwigs at CBS are no doubt wondering why they didn’t think this one out just a little bit more from the start. “Kid Nation” doesn’t hit the air until Sept. 19 and it is already riding saddle-deep in controversy. Accusations of child-labor violations have been leveled at the producers and the threat of investigations looms. The Writers Guild of America is even accusing the production of overworking its lowly scribes.

They say that any kind of publicity is good publicity (See: “Survivor” race war, fall 2006), but in this case I’m not so sure. It’s one thing, after all, to allow consenting adults to back-stab one another in the jungle and subsist for days only on rice. But when you’re putting children through the reality TV rigors, well, you’re just flirting with disaster and you had better have all your bases covered.

Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE:
The official cast was announced today. Here are the contenders, according to the AP.
Mark Cuban (billionaire businessman)
Floyd Mayweather Jr. (boxer)
Wayne Newton (Vegas staple)
Melanie Brown (Scary Spice from the girl group Spice Girls)
Sabrina Bryan (”Cheetah Girls”)
Helio Castroneves.(Indy 500 driver)
Jennie Garth (”Beverly Hills, 90210)
Josie Maran (actress, model)
Cameron Mathison (”All My Children”).
Marie Osmond (singer, nostalgia icon)
Albert Reed (model)
Jane Seymour (”Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman”)

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Tori Spelling and Wayne Newton will be among the contestants on the next installment of “Dancing With the Stars,” according to TMZ.com, which is leaking the news ahead of the official ABC announcement.

This is the rest of the field, says TMZ: Aaron Carter, Mark Cuban, Jane Seymour, Mel B (not dancing, but playing a role on the show), Jennie Garth, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Lou Ferrigno, Nia Peeples, Richard Quest, Giselle Bundchen, Helio Castroneves and Sabrina Bryan.

Good Chuck. Bad Chuck. Trying to erase memories of the demented freak.

At one point in the upcoming NBC series, “Chuck,” a woman tells the title character, “I didn’t think people still named their kids Chuck,” to which our hero (Zachary Levi) replies, “My parents are sadistic.”

Yes, the grand and glorious moniker of Chuck has become a victim of neglect in recent years as misguided parents have fallen in love with names like Jordan, Ethan, Justin and the like. But now, thanks to television and movies, Chuck is suddenly chic.

I’ve counted five characters named Chuck among the network pilots for the coming season and in my TimeOut column today, I explain why I’m pretty much down with that.

I’d like to think pop culture’s Chuck-a-polooza will go a long way toward erasing the bitter memories of that demented Chucky doll in the “Child’s Play” films. Alas, not all of the new TV Chucks are swell guys. In Fox’s “Back to You,” for example, Kelsey Grammer plays Chuck Darling, a pompous, womanizing blowhard.

Still, I’m holding out hope that America will embrace at least a couple of the new Chucks. I know I’m ready to feel the love.

This just in: Grammer, Heaton shine in “Back to You.” (Photo: Fox).

We continue our march up to the new fall season with a look at Fox’s wares. We’ve already alerted you to the fact that the entire pilot for “K-Ville” is available online at fox.com. Now we offer a peek at “Back to You,” the new Fox sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer (”Frasier”) and Patricia Heaton (”Everybody Loves Raymond”).

It’s a show that is unconventional by being conventional — meaning that it’s sticking to the old three-camera, studio-audience format while so many sitcoms are moving toward the single-camera, cinematic look. Sometimes traditional is just fine. Grammer and Heaton, of course, are old pros at the form and their chemistry is immediately evident. They also get a lot of help from the reliably hilarious Fred Willard.

After a steady barrage of stink bombs, Fox just might have a winning comedy. Here’s a clip:

For a rundown of Fox’s complete fall schedule, click here..

As a prime-time reality series, “Anchorwoman” had no legs. (Photo: Fox).

Be proud today. America has exhibited some good taste.

The opening episode of “Anchorwoman,” a boring and pointless reality show from Fox, was soundly rejected by viewers on Wednesday night. Something like only 2.7 million watched the show about a bimbo in a TV newsroom and almost that many had to have hated it.

As a result, “Anchorwoman” was given the quick ax by Fox this morning. One and out — that’s all she wrote.

We’re told that remaining episodes can be seen online.

Don’t bother.

CBS has set Oct. 15 as the debut date for Drew Carey on “The Price Is Right.” Carey will be hoping to fill the very big shoes of Bob Barker as television’s longest-running game show launches its new season.

Barker retired in June after 35 years on the show.

Anthony Anderson and Cole Hauser star in “K-Ville,” shot entirely in New Orleans. (Photo: Fox).

Early sneak peeks in television are all the rage these days. In an effort to build some advance buzz and get a little jump on the programming glut, networks more and more are making their shows available to some viewers before their official premieres.

Latest example: “K-Ville,” the Fox drama starring Anthony Anderson as a cop struggling to maintain order and hold onto his family in post-Katrina New Orleans. It doesn’t debut in prime time until Sept. 17, but is available right now on Fox.com.

I wanted to love this series because I’m a big fan of New Orleans (having visited a couple years before Katrina) and I was intriiqued by the potential to tell amazing stories and send some vital messages along the way. I also was knocked out by Anderson’s performance on “The Shield.”

Alas, I didn’t quite love this pilot, mainly because it didn’t know what it wanted to be — “The Wire” or “48 Hours.” It contians an uneasy mix of gritty realism and over-the-top action sequences. But Anderson is solid and there is lots of promise here. If you don’t mind watching TV on your computer, click here and follow the page prompt.